1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a personal rescue light that can be attached to a life vest or raft to aid rescue crews in locating survivors of aircraft or ship accidents who are lost in a large body of water, and in particular, to an improved personal rescue light that can provide a highly intense, narrow incandescent beam of light that is observable up to a mile utilizing a battery activated by salt or fresh water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Personal rescue lights are known in the prior art. A plethora of portable survival lights have been produced that may be either of the incandescent or strobe variety that include dry cell batteries of numerous sizes and shapes. ACR Electronics, Inc., has manufactured and sold for several years a rescue light comprised of a small incandescent bulb, placed within a lens, that is powered electrically by a battery contained in a water tight housing. Once a plug on the housing is removed and the battery immersed in water, water enters the housing of the battery cells as electrolyte, activating the light. Although these lights have been very effective over the years for rescue, increasing the visible range and directional area of visibility without increasing size, bulk and weight is desirable.
The present invention provides an improved personal rescue light that achieves increased incandescent light visibility range and directional area by employing an improved lens design that acts integrally with an improved water-activated battery system resulting in more power to the incandescent lamp without weight or size increase.